As reported by Jeff Weiss at the Los Angeles Times
L.A. Times: Like many of the more blog-buzzed rappers, you’ve been subject to a lot of rumors, beefs real or fabricated, and a level of media attention that rappers a generation ago may have had to face, but certainly not on as large of a scale. Has this been a difficult thing for you to cope with?
Wale: Q-Tip once told me that 15 years ago, all people had to judge you on was your album, one or two interviews, your record for the radio and the picture on the album cover. That’s it. The only way you can remain relevant is to give yourself up, unless you’re blessed to be in one of those every-once-in-a-while Drake situations. But that’s not even a once-in-a-while thing; that’s a one-time thing.
L.A. Times: Do you ever think that you’re angling more for a Mos Def-type fan base than say, a Drake-type fan base?
Wale: I don’t know. I really don’t know what my fan base is. I don’t think anyone knows. It’s so weird. On one hand, they’re like, Wale is the new Common or Mos Def, and on the other hand, people say Wale is the other Drake. On the other end, people are like, Wale is the new Jay-Z. On the other, they’re like, Wale is the new Talib Kweli. I don’t think anybody knows. There’s definitely some commercial appeal, but I’m not sure if I can put my finger on it. It’s interesting, because when I did my radio tour, all these people, all these pop stations spoke to me, and I was like, "Dawg, you don’t care about me. You only care about me because I did a record about Gaga."
In a lot of urban markets, they know who I was, they cared about me, they knew my grind and my struggle, but there wasn’t anything for me to give them at that point. It’s something I’m still trying to figure out. Still, we sell out shows all the time.
Read the full interview:
Los Angeles Times - Wale watch: The D.C. rapper on the blog age, Twitter and his debut album 'Attention Deficit'
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